Scales For You

You’ve probably noticed that very few homes now have an analog bathroom scale. These scales, which have a mechanical needle to indicate weight, are being replaced by a digital scale. Digital scales promise more features and better accuracy. It’s hard to be precise when reading an analog scale. Your weight could be 130 or 130 1/2 or 130 1/4. Who knows? The needle points somewhere near 130.  A digital scale (depending on its weight increments) may tell you that you weigh 130.2 or 130.5.

Digital Scales can offer features that are not possible with an analog scale. Some digital scales can keep track of several users. Some offer the choice of weighing in pounds or kilograms and the display can be brighter and easier to read. Advances in electronics have affected the scale industry as well as a lot of other areas. If your bathroom scales are older and out-of-date, consider shopping for a new digital scale.

If you’re good at math, you might want to play around with this formula:

weight in lbs./height in inches squared x 703

That is the formula used to find your Body Mass Index (BMI).  If that’s a little more math than you bargained for, the solution is very simple.  Just purchase a body mass scale!   A person’s body mass index is mainly used by physicians to determine risk factors associated with overweight and obesity.  However, it’s good to have some idea of what we’re dealing with before we go to the doctor.  After all, doctors don’t tell us what’s  wrong–they ask us!

Escali has a scale with an easy-to-read remote display that shows weight, Body Mass Index, Time and Date.  The scale turns on and calibrates when you tap the platform with your foot.  It has a 330 lb/150 kg capacity and a weight graduation of 0.2 lb/0.1kg, Body Mass Index 0.1%.  This seems a lot easier than working on the math formula!

Numbers are very precise.  If you don’t believe me, reverse two numbers in a phone number and see if it works.  Or let the bank run a check through the bank as $425.32 when it was supposed to be $25.32.  Just one number can make a big difference!

Scales need to be precise, also.  Whether you’re measuring in grams, ounces, pounds, or pennyweights, you want the same item to weigh the same amount each time it is placed on the scales.  If it doesn’t, you can’t depend on the results, whether you’re cooking, measuring medicines, or weighing yourself.  Escali scales are accurate and precise.  Check them out.

Isn’t it amazing how a child learns to talk?  We’ve been keeping our 3 month old great-granddaughter while her mom had the flu.  To watch her listen to us when we talk to her, then twist her mouth around and make sounds like she is trying to imitate what she is seeing and hearing is absolutely astounding.  To think of all the sounds and words they hear by the time they are a year old and, somehow, choose from all that and learn to actually speak our language, is remarkable.  The human brain is a wonderous machine!

Imitating is a skill we learn early, and many of us, continue it long after we become adults.  I find myself eating when I’m not hungry because others around me are eating.  I also eat foods that I know are not healthy for me because the person I happen to be with at the time has chosen it.  The large capacity scales let me know I need to stop imitating things that are not good for me, and choose carefully for myself.  It’s good to imitate if what we’re imitating is for our well-being.  Life is full of choices.  Practice making good ones!

We took our cat and chihuahua to the vet this morning for their annual check-up.  That’s always a lot of fun.  The cat is an indoor/outdoor cat that weighs almost 11 pounds and still has his claws.  We have to put him in a pet carrier and the vet has to be extremely quick to avoid those claws.  The chihuahua wants to see everyone, especially all the cats and dogs that come in while we wait, and he always manages to use the vet’s floor for a bathroom before I can stop him.  I guess he’s marking his territory.  Life is fun, isn’t it?

I’m always amazed at how proficient the vet and her staff are with these animals, and the love they show toward them.  Love goes a long way sometimes, toward getting cooperation.  They sat each of these animals on the scale and managed to weigh them without any fuss.  They gave both of them shots, and neither of them even whined.  The cat started getting a little antsy after that, but they had him back in the pet carrier before he could do any damage.  The chihuahua was still in a good mood when it was all over.  It’s nice to work with true professionals.

Electronics have totally changed our world!  It’s amazing to look back fifty years and see the differences between the appliances, telephones, television sets, computers, games, etc.  The first television I remember seeing had about a 10 inch round screen, and of course, it was in black and white.  Now we see 50 and 60 inch flatscreen television set in many homes, and of course, in true-life color.  The first computer I remember was at a university and filled a large room.  I had to input my data by typing, and holes were punched in a series of cards.  The cards ran through the computer to produce the results.  It took a long time to run any kind of program, and I needed to understand computer language (which I never mastered).  Now I’m sitting here typing on a laptop and can surf the internet to research anything that happens to be on my mind, without any knowledge of computer language.  Remember the old dial telephones.  It took a long time just to dial a number, then you were tied to the phone by a lengthy cord.  Now we all have a cell phone in our pocket or attached to our waist and we aren’t tied to anything.  Amazing!

Bathroom, kitchen, and shipping scales have been vastly improved, also.  Besides being electronic, they are also digital.  This gives a much more accurate and precise reading.  Electronic scales are everywhere–in the home, in the grocery store, in the labs, etc.  Toss out the old, put in the new!  Our world has changed!

Remember the song “Little Things Mean a Lot”?  One of my friends mentioned today that the main things she learned from going to Weight Watchers were to be certain she was getting enough dairy products in her diet, and to watch the little things.  For example, the kind of cream we put in our coffee, how much oil we put in the bottom of our pan, or how many added extras and dressings we put on our salads.  These things add up and as the song says, “mean a lot”–a lot of calories, that is!

When you’re purchasing bathroom scales, little features “mean a lot”.  The hold feature allows you to step off the scale and still see how much you weigh.  As we age and our eyesight grows dimmer, this little feature “means a lot”.  The tracking feature that can track the weight of as many as ten users may “mean a lot”.  When you purchase your new scales, check the features to see which are important to you, then make your decision based on that. 

We had YEE HAW last night at our little school in our very small community.  It was great!  Lots of kids and adults took part in the program and the gymnasium was full of folks from all over.  We got to see people who had moved away from our town years ago, but came back for the program.  They say having friends and socializing is good for our mental well-being.  If that is true, I am a lot better off mentally today than I was yesterday!

I find it is easier to lose weight, eat healthy, and exercise when I’m working with a group.  Weighing in at a group meeting somehow means more than weighing myself at home.  However, we have to have someone weighing us that we can trust not to tell what we weigh.  Even when I’m working with a group, I still want an accurate large-capacity bathroom scale at home so I can check my own weight between meetings. 

Acts of nature are often strong and brutal.  Tornadoes and strong winds swept through our state a few days ago leaving many homes damaged or destroyed and a mother and her baby dead.  Tornadoes tend to dip down, do their damage, and be gone in a very short time.  Often, there is very little time for warnings and seeking safety.

When you compare tornadoes and other violent acts of nature to my excess weight problem, it’s easy to see that I have a lot more control over my problem than we do over these natural disasters.  However, it doesn’t help to have control if I don’t TAKE CONTROL.  By planning healthy and balanced meals, measuring food portions before placing them on my plate, exercising on a regular basis, etc., I can gradually bring my weight under control.  It’s not a fast process, but a change of attitude and lifestyle.  It will be totally worth it when I see the difference each week as I step on the bathroom scales.

My little Chihuahua likes to sit next to me in the recliner while I work on my laptop.  It seems to comfort him to stay in this cozy little space to rest.  Babies or toddlers often have a blanket they want to take with them everywhere they go.  They usually call it their “blankie” and it apparently offers them the comfort and assurance that everything is right in their world.  We send sympathy cards, visit families when loved ones pass away, visit the sick in the hospital, etc., to offer comfort in times of stress or distress.

My problem appears to be that “food” serves as a comforter.  When I’m bored, I want food.  When I’m sad, I want food.  When I’m stressed or tired, I want food. Even when I’m happy, I want food!  It’s no wonder my scales show a higher number each week!  I’ve got to find myself a different “comforter.”  Hmmm!  Maybe shopping or traveling.  No, I don’t have that kind of money, and my husband would quickly become stressed.  Since he’s hard to live with when he’s stressed, maybe I’ll just stick to food, only try to eat less each time.  If I can convince myself that an apple or a carrot stick will comfort me, I’ll be alright!